The Price of Freedom--Chapter 25

After finishing the work, Kenneth took a break and wandered around the inn some more, taking in its expansive, plush side lobby with its sofas and chair and the large coffee table in the center, surrounded by bay windows and an overhead ceiling skylight–making it one of the most attractive places ever.

Then his stomach growled, making him wish that this place was more on the desirable end, if he could only find the kitchen.

Searching some more, he found a door that led him into a brightly lit kitchen and…

Steaming pots of…

Kenneth inhaled deeply, finding aromas he hadn’t smelled since he was…

A child?

Now that didn’t make any sense.

But for the moment, he ignored his inner voice in favor of getting righteously stuffed and go to bed happy and satiated.

Going over, he found that there a couple of plates and bowls (completely with clean silverware), there and waiting for him.

One must’ve been for Kayla–he reasoned–and took a plate and a bowl for himself. Popping the lid off, he found what looked like chicken dumplings.

My god! Where did we get so lucky?!? he breathed, silently thanking the old woman for giving them something truly to enjoy. He hadn’t had chicken and dumplings since he was little.

And even then, it was a pale comparison to what he had, though his mother did tell him it wouldn’t exactly measure up to the real thing.

Still…

Kenneth sampled the food just a bit, just to make sure that his eyes weren’t deceiving him, and found that it was as rich and heavenly as he imagined it would be.

Then he began to serve himself.

The other pot contained beef stew, which he found to be just as delightful, then he set about getting Kayla her share.

Once that was finished, he left the kitchen and entered the expansive side lobby and set down their dinner.

“Kayla! Time to eat!”

“Already?” Her questioning voice filtered back. “Boy, does that old lady know how to whip up something rather quick!”

Kenneth agreed wholeheartedly.

“And has a way of coming up with what I’ve always wanted: Chicken and dumplings.”

Kayla came in, paint splatters all over her face and down her front. Her delicate hands were also caked, but it didn’t detract from her beauty one bit.

Kenneth’s breath caught in his throat, but he knew that he was the luckiest man on Earth at the moment to find such a rare jewel in this endless sea of gems.

Kayla caught him staring at her and asked, “Something wrong? Am I that dirty?”

“Just a paint smudge here and there…” he said, pointing to the areas that caught his interest. “And there, and there, and…well, everywhere else.”

Smiling at his attempts at humor, Kayla nodded and then started to dig in, finding that the textures and flavors to be very delightfully warm and pleasing to the senses.

“Honey? Is this good?” She heard a voice say and she looked up and around and found herself in a kitchen.

“Of course it is.” she found herself saying automatically, like the words and the inflections themselves came natural to her.

Everything was quite natural. Even…

The dripping spatula in her hand, coated with chicken gravy and the smell of different foods permeating the kitchen.

Everything seemed real to her.

When she looked up, she found herself looking at herself through the open-paned window–and marveled at how close she resembled her future self at all.

Was I pregnant? She asked herself, feeling her stomach and finding that it wasn’t the case.

Then a baby’s shrill cry filled the air and she heard her husband say, “She’s crying again. Don’t worry. I’ll get it, Kayla…”

Kayla.

Kaaayla…

Hello?

Anyone home?

Kayla felt herself being shaken a bit, as if to jar her from whatever it was that she had presently experience.

His touch is so gentle. She thought disjointedly. Why doesn’t he want to be rough with me?

“Kayla? Are you with me?” Kenneth’s voice continued with underlying concern.

The young woman found herself staring into her food, the fork just inches away from her mouth.

Quickly scarfing what she had picked up, she began to dig into her meal with unrelenting fervor.

“Whoa. Slow down. Slow-” but the warning came too late for the young woman.

Kayla started choking on a piece of chicken.

Eyes watering and coughing like mad. Kenneth jumped behind her and started thumping her on the back, dislodging whatever she had.

The woman coughed some more, but found that she was able to swallow normally again. Not to mention breathe.

The whole experience made her cry.

Kenneth was flat out astonished and wondered if it was something that he had done.

“I’m sorry.” he said reflexively. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Kayla shook her head, indicating that it wasn’t that at all.

“Nothing you did,” she offered quietly between sobs. Then she took a deep breath and released it slowly, feeling the pain of loss quietly subside. “Nothing at all.”

“Could you tell me?”

Kayla stared at her plate of food for a moment, trying to find the courage that she knew existed, but the only way to get to it was by not admitting to defeat in the light of a possible truth.

“Well, it’s a bit strange. But you’ll have to accept what I tell you as the truth in the matter and not something entirely made up.”

“I know that,” the man easily agreed. “You didn’t have much of an imagination to draw upon before we met.”

A slight rush of embarrassment colored the young woman’s face.

“True.”

“So what is it that has been bothering you?”

“Remember our time back in the forest? When I had passed out?”

“Kind’ve. Why?”

“Well, it was something that I didn’t want you to know. Not until I had more concrete proof of what has been going on.”

“And what might that be?”

“I’ve been having a few waking dreams in the past few days, just like the one I had now, only I don’t know why or what its implications are.”

“What kind of dreams?”

“Well, the one that sticks to my mind is one of a time when someone very much like you and me were in this hospital room, but only it felt natural. Like it was meant to happen. Then I recall giving birth–or at least that part which was me–had given birth. The next thing I know, is that I’m holding the baby, but there is danger about me, and I responding to the danger. But the baby disappears and there you are, as a young boy.”

“Just like in my dream…” the man mused. “The one I had before we had sex.”

“The one where you were running from the Harbinger Cloud and I was there, saving you, telling you not to be afraid.”

“Mmm-hmm.” Kenneth agreed quietly, finding this all to be so surreal. “Go on.”

“Well after that and my telepathic contact with those voices, I had another. Where I was standing in a kitchen, cooking something, and I recalled talking to someone, but I couldn’t remember who it was.”

“Was it me?”

“I don’t know. My POV wasn’t very explicit.” Kayla told him.

“Then what?”

“Then I’m right here, with you.”

Kenneth leaned back in his chair, thinking about this one for a bit. Then he said, “Under normal circumstances, I would usually say that these waking dreams are part of a desire that your sub-consciousness has–something that you want to do or build.”

“That’s true. It could have something to do with that.”

The man shook his head.

“But we aren’t living in normal times. So your dream could have some other relevant significance.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. The fact that representations of both you and me are present there might be a desire on your part to raise a family.”

“But if that’s the case, why do I feel so much pain and loss?”

Kenneth stared at her for the longest second imaginable.

“Loss?”

“Yes! Loss! Like I’m either missing something important or some part of me is craving that element which cannot be provided in real time!”

“That’d usually be defined as either an addiction or an obsession.”

“But how? I’ve been with the Neos all my life. I have known nothing else since then?”

“Do you suppose that they could be related to your fragmented memories of the past?”

Kayla grew troubled.

“I don’t know that.”

“Can you at least tell me how you feel when you experience this waking dreams?”

The young woman threw a knowing smile in his direction.

“From soldier to councilor, huh? How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“That: Actually care for someone one minute and killing the next.”

Kenneth scratched the back of his absently.

“Occupational hazard I guess. But human psychology was something I had a small fascination with from the onset. I guess it was amplified a little after my parents were killed.”

Kayla nodded and leaned back in the sofa, spreading her wings out a bit. Then she placed her dinner on her lap carefully.

“How I felt? Well, it felt–I mean I felt–okay with it. Like it was a normal thing. Like I belonged there and not here for some odd reason. But at the same time, I knew that couldn’t be right, because my place was right here. At this time frame. So I couldn’t figure out how it could place any significance in my life as opposed to now instead of then.”

“So how does it compare to now? As opposed to living in the here and now, instead of the memory?”

Kayla had a blank look on her face. But her eyes were a different matter entirely. Kenneth could tell she was thinking hard on this one. Probably making mental comparison charts or some kind of base reference.

“Different,” she said quietly. “Cold. Alien. Unnatural.”

“So could be just a dream then?”

“It could be a dream. But then again, I’m not sure. There are so many things about my past that I have no familiar ground with.”

“Other than being a Neos soldier-class drone.”

“Techno-organic being with virtually unlimited capabilities.” The young woman corrected graciously.

“Mmph.” Kenneth snorted. “That’s a scary possibility in itself. And considering your recent contact with those voices. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Neos were going to try something again.”

“You know I wouldn’t allow that to happen, my love.” Kayla reassured him. “I would rather die first than go back to living that life of a complete lie.”

“I know.” Kenneth said, before dipping back into his meal. Oddly, it remained nice and hot, and yet, ten minutes had passed according to his personal tracker.

Very strange. he thought, but didn’t bother bringing up the subject yet. There was no need to switch conversation pieces.

“Did you ever get a sense of what the time period that the dream was in?”

“Something told me it was in the past. That much I know. I couldn’t give you an exact fix.”

“That’s okay. I didn’t want one. Just idle curiosity.”

“What about you?” Kayla asked. “Did you get a sense of where you were when you had the dream?”

“I was a young boy of about six. So yeah, I knew when I was. It was on or about the year 2135.”

“Topeka, Kansas…” the young woman cut in unexpectedly, her eyes growing a bit glassy. “Directive 712-F: Eliminate population center with a Type VII, Electromagnetic-Bio Pulse Bomb. Field results as follows: 99% of the human population wiped out in first blast. Directive 637: Dispatch a Type II Harbinger Cloud.” Then her eyes cleared up and she looked at him, tears clearly visible.

“I’m sorry, Kenneth. I didn’t know.”

“No. You were following a directive or two. There was nothing that you could’ve done that would’ve stopped Topeka’s destruction.”

“The plus side to all this is that soon after, we initiated Directive 036.”

“What’s that?”

“Reseeding the area with plant and grass seeds.”

Kenneth stared at her in disbelief.

“You mean to tell me that the entire area is now–”

“Terraformed.” The young woman finished for him. “Not a single building remains standing the last time we did a recon mission. The whole place is barren of life. Just grass and trees where Topeka once stood.”

For a second, Kenneth felt something go heavy in his chest and he found himself close to breaking down too.

Mom, dad…you would’ve liked what happened there.

Maybe they already knew.

Story ID:	1678
Written by:	Schuyler Rahwn Thorpe (bio, contact, other stories)
Organization:	NA
Story type:	Fiction
Location:	Everett WA USA
Year:	2166
Person:	Kenneth Sparks/Kayla Sorenson